Why Slow Travel?

Have you ever heard the phrase “I need a holiday from my holiday”? Maybe you’ve even said it yourself? Holidays are usually fast and furious, not to mention expensive. Now that we’re full time travellers we need to travel differently to how we did before.

In the past, whenever we could fit travel in around my husband’s work, it would usually be for quick trips covering vast distances. And it’s not just because Australia is huge, but it is the same for when we travel overseas too. Australians in general have a tendency to cram in as much as they can whenever they head overseas. It’s a big expense and effort just to get out of Australia in the first place, so if we manage to get a month off work to head overseas, you better believe we’re visiting half a dozen countries in that time. We’ll have a checklist of the things we want to see (or be instagrammed in front of) and we’re going to tick off every one even if that means visiting 3 cities in one day.

Stonehenge, England

Edinburgh, Scotland

Paris, France

Rome, Italy

Greece, Athens

Cairo, Egypt

Our first overseas trip in 1999 – 7 countries in 6 weeks

So on our test run to Japan in 2016, to see if it was doable for us to go backpacking overseas with three kids, we travelled like any Aussie would: we went from Tokyo to Hiroshima and back, visiting lots of cities and sights in between, in only 2 weeks. Halfway through our trip we had burned ourselves out. We spent 2 of our 5 days in Kyoto at home in our undies before we felt recharged enough to keep going. Now, travelling slowly means that we’re not racing around to see everything. We sightsee maybe 2-3 times a week and we are able to avoid weekend crowds. If something comes up at the last minute, it’s fine, there is always tomorrow. On our days at home we spend time pursuing our interests, reading, and hanging out. The balance works well – we have home days, sick days, and pants-optional days in-between sightseeing and hectic travel days.

From an educational perspective, travelling slowly allows us to immerse in the places we’re in and gain a depth of understanding that travelling quickly doesn’t allow. It provides time for us to get to know a country, gradually accumulating knowledge over the months we’re there. We get to know people, hear their stories, learn their history & language, and even take a class if we want to.

Our daughter attending her art class in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Another reason is affordability. I didn’t keep an official figure on that 2-week Japan trip, but I’d guess we spent close to $10k. Now, $10k gets us 3 months in Malaysia. By staying in a place for a month at a time, we can get long-stay discounts on accommodation. We make sure to rent a place with a kitchen so that we can buy groceries, buying things in bulk for a cheaper price. We’ve eaten our fair share of scrambled eggs for dinner to keep the food budget down. And as for the large expenses like paying for flights, we’re able to spread those costs out over several pay packets, gradually saving up for the next round.

Put simply: travelling slowly means that we can emulate the pace of home as close as possible which also means being able to afford similar overheads. It brings greater value to our children’s world education as we gain a deeper understanding of the places we spend time in. We no longer want it to be a race to have as many places on our list checked off; this is our life now – it’s not a holiday – and we want to be able to take it easy 😉

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9 thoughts on “Why Slow Travel?”

i totally agree with this post. right now we are limited by time (vs money… although that is not that plentifiul) and are working towards a slow travel model where we stay for a month at a time in certain places. wonderful

Thank you for commenting! It was the money aspect that forced us to really slow it down. If travel is to be affordable for us as a long-term lifestyle we just have to travel more slowly than what we’re used to.

I wish we had more time for our travels so that we wouldn’t feel like we need to try to fit in as much as possible into each day. I think traveling slowly would be wonderful! My hubby and I hope to travel slowly as much as possible in our retirement years.

Thank you for your comment! Looking back, it was possible to slow down a short trip if we had wanted to, but we wanted to see so much that we didn’t prioritise the other aspects of travelling slowly. I wonder what our Japan trip would have looked like if we had spent the two weeks in, say, just Tokyo. There is a slight sense of missing out now – how much could we get around to with 3 months in Malaysia?! :O – but we picked 3 places and stuck to our plan of 1 month in each, and we were happy with those experiences and that’s what counts. We can always go back.

Completely agree! Slow travel gives you such a better connection with the places and people. Too bad it’s so hard for people to get enough time off to do it more often. We are about to leave for a year to try it out!

A year, fantastic! Yes, it’s different now that we’re worldschooling. It was difficult to take more than a month at a time for a trip when Huz was working. I must admit, the temptation to See All The Things1!!! is still there, even with all this time we have – it’s a habit to break that’s for sure! 🙂